Miyamoto Looking to Shift Focus Away From Passive Gamers

In an interview in tomorrow's issue of Edge magazine, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto explained his philosophy going forward for making games. He wants to move away from the passive attitude of someone who approached gaming with an attitude of "Okay, I am the customer. You are supposed to entertain me."

Miyamoto lamented this passivity, saying "they do not know how interesting it is if you move one step further and try to challenge yourself."

The Wii's incredible success, with lifetime sales of over 100 million, was fueled by its appeal to the "casual" market. While "casual" has become somewhat of a pejorative term, Miyamoto feels it's no longer Nintendo's place to court this demographic.

"Because of the spread of smart devices, people take games for granted now," he said, adding that this shift was a good thing for Nintendo. Moving away from the casual market, Miyamoto says, means they no longer have to worry about making games that are relevant to the daily lives of the general public.

In the interview, Miyamoto also admits that there was some doubt about the Wii U GamePad initially within the company, but he was sure that they would still be able to create something "unprecedented and revolutionary."